#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 9: Scones
Andrew Scrivani
Lesson Info
9. #WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 9: Scones
Lessons
#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 1: Arancini
43:41 2#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 2: Broccoli Risotto
1:03:20 3#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 3: Polenta and Sausage
1:03:41 4#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 4: Chocolate Covered Macaroons
1:13:16 5#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 5: Pasta with Peas (and bacon)
56:38 6#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 6: Chickpea Stew
1:01:22 7#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 7: Ramyeon
1:03:14 8#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani Episode 8: Goan Green Curry
1:03:18Lesson Info
#WFHCafé with Andrew Scrivani, Episode 9: Scones
Hi and welcome back to created live TV. My name is Kate Desa and your back washing the work from Home Cafe with Andrew Scheer Body excited to have him back today. He's gonna be teaching us how to make scones both gluten free and regular Scuds. This is, ah, recipe that was passed down in his family. And I'm excited to learn more about how to make scones at home and then learn how to take photos of them. So welcome back under a nice to have you back. Hello? Welcome back. It's great to be Ah, yeah. I mean, we're gonna do scones today, so it's only 90 degrees on the East Coast today, and I have the oven at 4 50 So, you know, it's a great It's a great day here in the kitchen. Um, it's not too bad we got up in the air conditioning on today, So all the 450 degree oven is much better here than it is when I'm in my studio where the air conditioning isn't nearly as good, so we'll survive. Um, so this recipe conjures up a lot of history in my family for me, in particular It's something that is un...
usual for an Italian family tohave. It's part of their conditions because it's not an Italian recipe. And we are, you know, second and third generation immigrants that basically only ate Italian food growing up. And then there was this sort of interloper of a recipe that came in and and became part of our family tradition. And now it's a recipe that get shared with cousins and aunts and uncles because this was the it was the pastry that was their door. Bring coffee, right? So when Whenever the adult, this is my memory of it. Whenever the adults would be at my grandmother's house, which was sort of the central hub of the family, um, they would be eating these scones with coffee, so I never knew that it wasn't not an Italian thing. I just rigging. Oh, this is something we eat. So we ate these these little muffin looking things with raisins in them and smear them with a great amount of butter and and they were terrific. Um, and then when I come to realize is that it's actually not a family recipe, it was actually ah, friend of a friend of the family that ended up teaching it to my grandmother. And then it became sort of the staple. Um, and the other aspect of this was that, you know, like a multigenerational immigrant family. We had no multiple generations in one house. So my great grandmother was there. My grandmother was there, and then we were there all in one home when I was a child. And what, um, was odd or maybe not odd was that my grandmother really didn't do a lot of cooking because my great grandmother did all the cooking in the household. So we my grandmother was the baker. So I really learned my love of baking from my grandmother. Her name was Annie And what one of the things she made consistently with the worthy scones. I mean, there were quite a few things that she would make, but I really learned to love baking from being in that house and seeing sort of fresh made baked goods come out. And it was her outlet because she didn't have another cooking outlet because my great grandmother dominated the kitchen and I dedicated my book to my great grandmother. But I'm gonna give my grandmother a little bit of a little bit of love here on creative lives today. So there's some. There's a lot of history in this in this particular recipe. Yeah, it sounds like it. So remind me scones. I know scones aren't Italian, remind you our skins, Technically French. What is the origin behind schools? I think schools are English. English, Irish. Yeah, it's It's something that the person who taught it to my grandmother was British. So she was born born in England, and she came to the U. S after World War two and was family friends for many, many years. And then, you know, this recipe sort of was born out of that friendship. So it was. It was interesting that Ah, there's a couple of little things about it that make it interesting and one in particular is, ah, the addition off sour cream Sour cream kind of add some moisture to it cause Scotland's that traditionally could be really dry. And if you're drinking, eating scones with tea or coffee, it's nice because it's a dryer thing. You can dunk it, whatever, but if you want it a little bit more moist than on having the sour cream, and there is really nice. So, um, I guess we should get started so we can kind of show the process here cause I'm gonna go through it a couple of times. So here we go down to, ah tabletop camp. So as you can see, I have 3.5 cups of all purpose flour can come. I have three tea spoons of baking powder, half a teaspoon of bay, two sticks of butter, six tablespoons of sugar, eight ounces of sour cream and a cup of reasons. So I'm gonna put this other stuff over here for a second. So all of the dry ingredients go in here, but we just throw them all in. So one of the things that I always you know, this running me from our recipe last week Baking is such a precise thing, and you have tohave your exact measurements. Perfect. Otherwise, it can go haywire really easily and reminds me, uh, if you know and cooking other things are like curry like we were making last week. It's really not precise, and it's really much more of a feel and taste kind of thing. Banking is very different in that way. And you know, I'm I like to bake a little, but I always find that baking is much more difficult than regular cooking. What's your take on that? You know, I like the precision element of it. I do love the instinctual feel of cooking, but I also have unfinished E for this because I like the precision of it. And I like the scientific aspect of it. It is very precise. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cut this butter up into cubes so that when I cut it into the flour, it starts to make, like little little tell, it's, um you want the It's like a pie crust in a way where you wanna have. So this is sort of melted a little bit, but mostly, mostly intense, just going to get him in there, and then I'm probably gonna and abusing my hands. But I'm going to start by using a fork. Um, I like to get my hands in there when I'm doing it, because you can really control how how big those up Trump's get. Yeah, but I do love the precision element of baking. It's one of the things that even in my studio, one of the things that I continue to style, even when I have stylists working with me, is I get actively involved in the baking. Most of the people who work with me, my style, it's know that they can count on me that either take on those duties or at least give them ah capable hand when we are working with pastries or cakes. I just made a beautiful cake this weekend because I'm not working with stylists at the moment because of Kobe. Some and I made a beautiful strawberry ice cream cake, which technically wasn't baking, but it was still a cake. The decorating part felt like baking, so that's going to come out in The New York Times next week. So what I'm doing now is I put all my dry ingredients in here and I cut up that butter, and now I'm kind of starting to cut the butter into the flower. So, uh, my grandmother used to use either a fork, which is what I'm doing, or a pastry cutter, which kind of looks like, uh, this thing with a handle that has these wires that come across it. Yeah, yeah, and you use it? Yeah, that's that's a pastry cutter on. And that's what my grandmother also had. I have a couple of antique pastry cutters, and I have used them in the past. But a lot of times, especially after working with Kate McDermott on so many projects regarding pie and dough and crossed, is that I got used to doing it this way and also doing it this way, which is just the kind of start to break the butter in your hands, running it through. It sort of becomes like, um, like raggy in your hands and moist ins, everything. It's really nice to do it this way, too, and once it's sort of got it has the consistency that you feel that the butter is equally distributed and the, um, the flower is starting to moisten. That's when we'll at our last ingredient and get started on the next part of the process. And so just one quick question here is how how cold was that butter? You know, the temperature of butter that you worked with often in making pastries and baking is really important, and it looked like that was still fairly cold butter that you cut into fairly small pieces. It was it was only a little bit melted only because I took it out. Um, right before we got started. But normally I would take it right out of the fridge. Okay? Yeah. I mean, work with cold butter. I mean, that's one of the keys to certain pastries is particularly like delicate pastries. It's like like pie crust and Qassem things like that because you really should be working with colder butter. So this is almost there. You could see that the that. The clumps are sort of like the size of peas. That's sort of what Kate always says. No, he says that the should be like the size of peas. A little Columbus. So does anybody have any questions so far? Well, let's see are it? Looks like people are mesmerized right now. We have a lot of people tune in and on Facebook. Yeah, let's see. Yes, so we have. Well, I'm telling Zubin that Steven is wondering what he's what you were baking somebody. Marty jumped in and and told him that you are baking some scones. Recipe sounds delicious. I think everyone's excited to see, uh, the sour cream element, which is not something that's necessarily, um no, that is a good addition in scouts. Well, wait no longer. So here goes. We got sour cream going in, Friends, this is going to get mixed in along with our reasons. Now, that's all our ingredients. And I'm gonna make mixed these up a man also, get my hands back in there, which, you know I want to do. And I'm just kind of cutting this through this ball is probably a little small for this, but we're gonna We're gonna live with it. And then, of course, this is all going to get rolled out on this countertop once, uh, we have, ah, mixture, that holds together. So that's going to be soon because I'm gonna get my hands. And now you could just scoot the bowl over to your There we go. That's perfect. Sorry. I could see that. It is. Yeah. It's moving as your, uh Well, I think we're down to a square, right? Yeah. So Okay. Yeah, I'm sticky and good. It's getting It's getting there now. I'm gonna do these in the way my grandmother used to do them where she would roll them out to a thickness of about 1/2 of an inch. And then, um, I used to like, like, a pastry cutter. 11. I'm not a patient. Kind of like a cookie cutter, like a two inch cookie cutter. And then, um, and then place them on the on the sheet. But it think, um, I don't have a cookie cutter today, so and I have ah. Ah. Jar laid. That I think is around the right circumference. How interesting. All right. Yeah. And I'm gonna use that in a nice to make my, uh, my circles. So? So Andrew Crane from Facebook asks, can you use two knives to cut the butter? Um, I assume he means, like, fold the butter into the one we were using the fork instead. Was that without work? So absolutely. I mean, any implement that will help you kind of, um just get the bottom and extend. I mean, I I z saw it. I just found it easier to do it with my hands, which I like when it comes to baking. I really do like getting my hands involved. I have these memories as a child of sitting there on this sort of stool in the kitchen and my grandmother's house, watching her bake and just always just fascinated by her hands. Now you see how that's kind of coming together into a nice kind of solid mass. All my little pieces are now incorporated. Maybe I can get some more of this off My ends Did watch my hands, people. I watched him. Well, era of many germs. Yeah, and then I have a funny story. So when I was a little boy and I would go up the stairs because we lived in the basement of my grandmother's house, um, I would come up and want her bake and one time just put a little piece little flower on my rolling pin. This is a French rolling pin again. This is something that I learned from Kate to use a French rolling pin instead of a standard rolling pin, because by having the tapered edges, you actually can have a little bit more control when you're trying to roll stuff out. So So I went upstairs. My parents were going to go on vacation the first vacation, like since I was born so I was maybe, like, 2.5 3 years old, and my grandmother was there entertaining me because, you know, they were gonna watch us. Well, not us. Mean my brother wasn't born yet, and, um, I sat on that little stool toe, watch her make the scones, and they came out of the oven, and she took them off the sheet pan. And I put my hand straight on the cheap in burned my hand, had to go to the hospital, and my aunt and uncle had to come, and they didn't tell my parents because they didn't want them to come back from from vacation. So when they came back and see, I made this little indentation, I'm going to do that three times and I'm gonna cut him out, and then I'm gonna reroll whatever dough is left and make a few more. So, yeah, I was a bit of him as a child. My mother directs me like the devil every Halloween until I was five. So this is not an ideal way to do this, but it is definitely a way to do it. Okay, so you see, I got 1234567 so far, and I'm going to cut it out. And that's just like a little mason jar lid that you have there, right? Yep, that's it. I just took a lid, and I figured this would be a good size this size. I remember them being, you know, in a two inch cookie cutter is about the same size, so I can take that out. All right, in there. I have one notice and put it right here on the sheet pan with the parchment on it. And this will take us a minute or two to get through. It is dark today. It's very, uh uh Cloudy. So our photography might be a little bit of a challenge today, so we'll see how that goes. I don't think we've experienced a cloudy day at your No, no. And it is very cloudy, and I'm supposed to go surfing after this, so that is very disappointing. You know, it's I become that sort of dedicated surfer where at my whole life revolves around surf report because I have the time to do that these days, and it's really ah, it's something that has kept me sane during this, including creativelive, is getting the same because I'm not as busy as I normally would be with my jobs. Um, so it's been it's been nice to have both this to look forward to and to be able to get out into the ocean as much as I get out. Yeah, so and how is your nephew and his girlfriend still quarantining with you? Or is it just You ensued? Now, just Sue and I Yeah, um, Nico and Daniella um, went They were in Maine this week. They took a little vacation, and then they've been back there apartment in New York because they're planning on moving soon, So they needed to get back and sort of get themselves oriented. Plus, I think you know, they're young and I think they were feeling like, very separated from all their friends. And they felt, um, getting back at this point was better. And they socialize with their friends in the park, and they've been very responsible, but also, you know, they needed to get back to their lives. So, um so that's good. Sue is the only one benefiting from all of your delicious Monday cooking Well, yeah. I mean, some of our neighbors here at home, in our place, our also now benefiting a little bit because, you know, I'm here at now. I have more food than people, so I have to share. So our neighbor downstairs, it's ah, good friend of ours who had very exciting news announced in the New York. She has been named the publisher of Simon and Schuster, so wow. Yeah, she used to be or still is for the next two weeks, the She's the executive director of the Pulitzers. Um, and she has gotten this new position she used to be get the New York Times. That's how we know each other. And our son Jordan is my surf partner. And he is also, uh, was in my movie. He wasn t Marco. So you see, if you see Team Marco, he's Ah, boy, that, please. Epstein, which is, you know, was I don't know if anybody issue is familiar with Welcome back harder. Do you remember? Welcome back. Yeah, Idea. Okay, so there was there was sort of an in joke. And welcome back, Carter, That there was, um, Hispanic boy that was named Epstein and we, uh we sort of I don't know that we were consciously doing it this way, but we have ah, you know, Jordan's Black and having him named Epstein Being from New York was kind of a cute nod to some of the multicultural sort of aspects of be growing up in New York. Tell us a little bit more about Team are TRO. I don't think we talked about Marco on the stream yet. Yeah, so Team Marco is the story of the boys whose grandfather, multigenerational, sort of Italian American household, where the grandfather had to come in and live with his daughter after his wife is passed and he and his house burns. So he and his his grandson have some issues generational issues that we explore, especially the idea of technology, and that, you know, older, older folks are a little bit confused at how younger people don't really spend any time outside doing things that they did like playing stickball will be outside 20 games, so the game the story revolves around friendship and gameplay and intergenerational relationships, and it's some. It's a really kind of cute, beautiful story, and it's ah, it's ah, currently under consideration for distribution, which should have an answer by the end of the month. And hopefully we have it out to the public. 80 September. So that is That's excited. Yeah, that's steam Marco. And, uh, my little buddy Jordan is one of my stars. So he's Ah, he's his terrific guy and his mom has got this exciting new opportunity. So he's of who's benefiting from our cooking adventures these days? As you can see, this process requires quite a bit of patients because you really do need to do this a few times to get it right. So, um, I think we'll probably get two more out of this and were perfect, so hopefully we're not. Hopefully we're, ah, entertaining you with our scone cutting operation here. I think this last one will just be free form. Yeah, I think so. So, typically are thes scones typically are kind of at dongdaemun shape. Are these just in time circles, or are they gonna kind of, uh, change form while they're baking? You know, I think they're gonna flatten out and probably get a little bit bigger. Um, hoping not to much bigger. So you show you how we ended up. Um, let's see how that goes on for 10 minutes. And while those air cooking, I'm gonna start mixing up the, um, gluten free version on. We could talk a little bit. So again, that was six tablespoons of sugar. Uh, that was 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda, three teaspoons of baking powder. And then we're gonna cut that cut the butter in with, um, going to do by hand right now. So, like, I do like this just the speed up, the process, the process a little bit. And then tell me So is this gluten free rest api a take that you have created when in adulthood or was gluten free something that you in your family used to create when you know your grandmother used to create when you were a kid? Oh, no. I don't think anybody knew what gluten was in this in the seventies. So I really don't even know if that was something that people did intentionally. I mean, I know that there's a lot of foods, you know, we talk about the noose ways of eating gluten free and vegan than vegetarian and other things, and you know one of my friends who is a restaurant or in New York, you know, talks about. She's from Rome. She talks about how so much Italian food is both vegan and vegetarian, even though it's not something that we have ever really identified that way. So, um, it's ah, it's not something we actually knew anything about back then. But least my family didn't. I'm not sure who did. Because Celia can only think was a diagnosable disease back then. Um, but you know this. There are so many great options with ingredients now to be able to do, um, you know, different variations on favorites. You know, like, you know, for so many years. Even in the beginning, when I first started eating more gluten free diet, there were very, very few things that could ever muster enough taste or enough texture toe Replace some of the things that we liked, like pasta and pizza and good breads and, you know, things like pastries and cookies. And now the products are so advanced that so good that, you know, we have an opportunity toe make these things. So you know, having the's sort of AP style flowers to look with, um, it really makes a big difference. I mean, I've been able to make all kinds of things with thes thes flowers. Some my first creativelive, the big creative black class that I taught on food photography featured my friend Shawna Ahern, who was known as the gluten ball, was known as the ruling free Girl. She's now drop that moniker. But, um, she had her own line of, ah, gluten free flour that I think it's very similar to the one I'm using right now. Andi, she was one of the people who sort of gave me a lot of instruction as to how to, ah, to eat gluten free. Even though I don't have celiac disease, I have other problems that sort of limit the amount of wheat and take I should have, um she was super helpful in getting me to understand how to cook a little differently, had to eat a little differently and, you know, be able to still enjoy the foods that I like. So, um, if you see my if you go to my class or you've taken my class, might my creative life class, then you you know who she is because we do a little interview and we talk a little bit about gluten for eating and also about blogging and hold out. So that was your, uh, food fundamentals class. I'll drop it in the comments for everyone. No, it is a food photography class. So and I think, uh, I think that is that one of the ones that's being offered is a fast class. Too much, I think. Yeah, no one is. So if you are on the Creator pass, the Andrews Cavani's food photography class is now available as a fast costs. And just for anyone who doesn't know about fast classes, they are. We've condensed a lot of our longer form classes into 60 to 90 minutes, so you can get all of the great information and condensed down and Andrews classes of really great fast class. And it is available for anyone who is our our monthly subscription or yearly script subscription, which is called the Creator Pass. But I'm gonna drop a link down in the comments for you guys to check out this food photography class, which is one of my favorite classes on Creativelive. I am in good company, too So it's a nice thing to say. We got some really great instructors now. We've always had not great instructors, but I think the profile of creative Live in recent times has really brought out some pretty stellar people. Yeah, not some really, really interesting instructors. So I think you know that that creator passes really worth Thea worth the price of price of admission. I know that I take other classes on creativelive, and I really enjoy them. I love to hear what our instructors classes. What classes do you like to take on creativelive? Like I was talking to Vanessa Van Edwards the email the other day and she was taking a public speaking class, which was really fun to hear a lot of our instructors, we give our instructors the creator passed so they can stay involved and see what we have. Um, we're adding to our library, and it's always fun to hear what classes are instructors like to take to Well, you know, I'm interested in what, um, you know, particular, like other editorial photographers have done. And I know you know, Joe McNally is somebody that I knew about, um, you know, from being in that world. And I thought, you know, his his take, obviously because of the nature of what he does is very interesting. And I always, always, like toe watch, other stood of editorial, sort of photojournalist type, targeted for his work. That's definitely one of the things I like to do on there. But then I also kind of like things like, you stick stuff like I'm pretty interested in what Steve Aoki cast. This has to say, Yeah, I don't know anything about that kind of music. I learned a little bit about it from Nico because it was something that he was interested in and we were doing some stuff together during the pandemic. Yeah, you're doing your little cocktail hours while he was deejaying, right? That's right. I mean, it's not the same music because I know that there's some sub genres and things that I don't really understand about that music. But I know that Steve has worked with some artists and I'm really fond of. I know he did collaboration with Tom Morello. Um, who I also took his his Tom Morello is class on a different platform. Um, but I just I'm really fascinated by Elektronik music, even though it's not something I particularly listen to. But I think the creation of it is really interesting. Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting, right? My husband's father is the classical contemporary composer, and he's a, uh, a professor back in Illinois where we're from. And you know, most of his students now kind of lean into electronica music, and it's been really fascinating for him to see how composing has really evolved for electronic music. And it's, you know, if your electronica music is so versatile and there's so much that goes into it. And there's not the constraints of having a band and having everyone together, that it's it is a perfect medium for this time that we're through. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I want, um I know my wife, John, when she was still at The New York Times, did a video piece with Diplo and Skrillex on, and it was about how they made that song with Justin Bieber. Yeah, how they crafted that song. And that was a really fascinating sort of look into the way that music I got made. And I think that was the thing that sort of got me interested in kind of understanding more about it. Yeah, I play, I play guitar. I'm interested in music. A zit, you know, as an art form. But I also just kind of fascinated by the making of sounds. Yeah, of course it's Ah, I actually, you know, when I was in college and in my early career days, I was a music writer. And so I spent a lot of time actually writing and doing photography at concerts. And yet diplo and Skrillex for some of my very first shows back in Chicago, where I lived that I, uh I wrote about and it's Yeah, I think we speak speak to this a lot, which is that food and music are similar in in the sense that there universal. But there's so many different interpretations. And it's something that brings us closer but also allows us to learn about a different culture in a way that, um, you know, other things don't and I think food and just kind of have that commonality. Yes, I agree. And the funny thing is that you know Sam Sifton, who's the editor of the New York Times? Um, food section who I'm who I've been friendly with for many years since we started, You know, which since he started hiring me back in the early two thousands. Um, again, I think I think it was the New York Observer writing about music and the unseen, you know, as a young man. And we played often talk about music. When we're together, I find that he has got a, you know, an interesting kind of cultural knowledge of music similar to mine growing up in New York, you know? Okay, being a white kid in New York who has knowledge of hip hop, you know, because it was it was music that it was very much of our error on. I grew up in a in an integrated neighborhood that you know where that music was being. You know, I was being exposed to that music, you know, had its very inception. And I think Sam also sort of took to hip hop, uh, as a young man. And, you know, he's sort of an odd bird to in a middle aged white guy who knows a lot of awful lot about hip hop, you know? So Oh, I I'll tease something that I'm working on. Um, I don't know if you ever caught one of the interviews with Steve Sweat Pants, who's also a New York. He's a street photographer based in New York. He has AH agency called ST Dreams magazine on. They just launched Street Dreams Radio, and we're hoping to do some sort of collaboration on creative live TV, where we highlight some of the music in some of the producers that they're bringing on street Dreams radio, which all really speaks to kind of the New York music steam. And I'm really excited. Teoh hopefully make that collaboration work out and that I'm actually talking to them this week and hoping to have them on creative live TV and get some more of more music onto the art beads. So I'm excited about that potential. That sounds like a lot of fun. As you could see, this is not as sturdy as the, um, the other one, but they are holding together, and I think that our other ones are probably right about already are gonna let him go just a bit and they look to me just like my grandmother's. So they actually worked out. Ah, you'll see when we get him out of there and still remind us all remind everybody we're making scones right now with Andrews Rabbani. Andrew is a New York Times. Just, uh, is a New York Times food photographer. He is one of our instructors, and this is the work from Home Cafe. Today he is teaching us how to make scones, uh, gluten free scones, which were making right now and in the oven right now, our traditional scones, um, and remind us how What is the temperature? You have the oven at a hold. What is How long are you putting this guns in the stones. They're going in for about minutes. Also, um, I'm gonna make this last couple by hand and get him out. Get this, get the ones out of the oven and get these in the oven. I haven't experimented with gluten free dough yet in terms off making, um, how long this cook time will be, but I'm pretty sure it'll be very similar. Um, as you can see, I This is me when I am working with the dirty and messy and I love it so much fun. All right. Where is my oven, Mittens. Here it is. Did you ever growing up? I used to love going to nose. Do you remember who knows? The pizza place? Of course. And that was much either. Heart as a kid is, you know, they gave you that piece of pizza go that you got to play with and eat while you're waiting. And that was by far my favorite pizza place growing up with does so. All right, I'm gonna clean this off with my bench scraper real quick so I can put these down in front of the camera for you. All right. This'll is called a bench scraper. Alright from Facebook. Doesn't need to get you a set of biscuits. Yeah, I have him in the back of the studio. You know, this is the work from home. Very go. So we have all of the tools? Yeah, I just You know, I gotta keep it, really, which is actually what it's like when I'm not at my studio where the majority of my cooking gear lives. Um, this is the substitute, so All right, here we go. You're gonna see how they came out. And honestly, they look just like I expected them to. They re they rose just a little bit. You can see they got a little puffed up. I'm actually gonna crack one open, because I want to make sure that they cooked all the way through, and they did nice and soft inside, but they will firm up like it's okay for them to get, like, a little stale, Um, and eat them, like with butter on top. Yeah, definitely. Right there. They're nice. He's a great They look great. And you know what? Instead of what other kind of dried fruits might you throw in here or other ingredients Instead, throw in a scope that you think are already that you've tried before. That worked out really well. Um, I think cranberries work out really nicely by both. We see how dark it got in my kitchen. We just had someone comment, actually. You know, my mom, who's now your facebook friend said turn on the light, every turn it on to light. Sold on. It just got stormy here. That's what happened. It just got stormy s. Oh, yeah. Um, Cranberries. Chocolate chips work really well. Golden raisins work well, not just regular purple raisins. Those those things, you know, you can always mix into the scones. And I think that the reasons are interchangeable with any of those things. Chocolate chip. Sounds like a really good idea, by the way. Yeah. Uh uh. Yeah, so I think that that's great. Um, let's go solve some problems with the photography on this because they think we're gonna have some challenges that we don't normally have here. I'm gonna rinse my hands. I'm gonna take you guys over there. Maybe I'll take you over there first. Um, and eyes actually front. There's a great test for us because usually you have all of this beautiful light and not all of us as lucky as you toe have amazing lighting in their house. So this is gonna be a real test. It is, but I'm gonna make it work. Um, you could see that I pulled over the bench. Yeah, used for, um, CD Dane. And I'm going to bring scones over and put him there for a second while I get I want to get stood up and lying in a good spot there for you. Can you see? That is good already. Okay. This is a real d I Y photo shoot. We're doing totally. Absolutely. The I by this is what work from Home cafe is that we are working it out. Okay, So how is you? See how this look from that I don't see the Oh, there it is. Okay. Yeah. Okay, so it looks like I'm going to try to pull is much light out of gonna sit right here so you could see the, uh So I'm gonna pull this month. Do you think I cut my head off? Yeah. You. There we go. Okay, hold on off. Center. Said it back up while I set the camera. So I'm going to try to get as much light as I can out of this set up today. But this is part of what we're doing, right. We're learning how to solve the problem of darkness in a home fruiting set up. So this might help a lot of people right now that you know, it's not always ideal. Where you have beautiful light all the time is definitely on a not home situation. So I still have, um, these cards that I made up. Remember this guy? All right, Oh, yeah. All right. So I'm gonna put that there to kick some light back in here. Is that gonna block of you? Maybe that's probably not a great idea, but I have an idea. I can solve that problem because we have stools and we can put you on a store. How's that? That'll get you yet? That works. Okay, Well, lightning, Did you see that sense of Lightnings go? That's interesting. I'm gonna stand right by this window and hope that I don't get electrocuted. How's that? All right, everyone. I am getting my camera set up. Then I'm gonna go. Oh, start at 1600. I s O at 125th the SAT 4.5. So I'm gonna start right there, and I'm gonna try to go back lit and see what that does for me. Oh, we're close. We're very close. I'm gonna push it to and I'm actually a little over there, so I'm gonna back off the 2500. I s o. And I feel like we are very close to just on an initial look. Oh, yeah, Actually, scoop the came on just to your right? A little bit, actually. Your left. Excuse me. There we go. Oh, yeah, That was great. It up. So it's surprising how much that that, uh, reflector that white reflector does for you because you're not You're still not using any artificial light, and it's still you can still see that kind of nice warm, uh, light off the top of the scones, So? Well, yes, Absolutely. And then look from the top, you can see it's very clean. Yeah, very clean. Look there, um, from the top. And I can actually maybe even think about with the top is taking this out and seeing if that gives me a little bit more drama shadowing, and it kind of does. I mean, I'm still feeling pretty good about there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks it looks like with even without the fill card, I'm still getting enough, um, light on the top. And I'm getting that deeper shadow. Yeah, crevices, which is really nice. So ah, lot of times when I work with, uh, with taste three, I like to shoot it right on the pan. Whether it's made, it just has a very natural sort of organic feel to it, and I'm gonna look around and pick What? When I do this, whenever we work with food, especially when we work with multiples, you want to pick what we call a hero and hero is basically the best looking one of the bunch that you get when you're making cookies or brownies or pastries or whatever. Trying to give a nice spacing that looks kind of natural, but not too precious. And I picked this one here. I have zero. Okay, so I'm gonna focus on that one both from this angle, which is nice, but I think I could use the fill a little bit more for this Phil card back in. While you're doing that, I want to mention Sandy from Scotland. Said she makes potato scones. Have you ever made a veto scum? No. But I can understand how it works. Pretty pretty. I think I got I get the general gist of how you do that, but I think that's really an interesting yes. Says usually their savory. And she likes to put bacon and sausage and oh, that sounds amazing standing. Sandy, We want those. Okay. So I can scroll back to a couple of the other ones. I did vertical. Yeah, but a vertical there? Yeah, that's you don't fall. It's got nice drama. And there Oh, yeah, Overhead. That's something else that I think that was the chicken wings Stone the card so way have some nice things here. But what I want to do now is let's get out cooling rock and do that sort of presentation. Okay? I didn't see you remind everybody. Uh uh. Lorraine from Facebook is asked, What lens are you using again? And can you just remind us of your camera and settings? Of course. Um, I am using right now the 50 millimeters macro 2.5. It's like it's called the compact macro. Actually, don't have the cooling rack, but yeah, copper pan that I bought years ago that I don't really use very often, but it's very pretty. And I think that this color will stand out really nicely on it. It's got some nice texture. So I'm gonna took four or five of the prettiest ones and, uh, and go with them. Do you ever when your your, um when you're posing these to ever play with depth and maybe stack them a little bit in a photo like this that you're showcasing. What they look like after they've been baked is something like stacking. Does that feel like this? Yeah. Does that feel to post you and not not realistic? Yeah. I've never really been a big fan of that. Look, only because when do you ever stack like that? So I sort of sort of like a little out of context for me. I know that some people do it, and it's something that you know when you're, you know, looking for new and interesting ways to do stuff it. Ah, it could help to to do that. But it's just not something. What? Copper is really interesting. I don't know if I love it, but it's definitely different. Yeah. Gives ah, shadow to those scones in a in a totally different way. Yeah, I do have something else here that I think would look nice on. Um, I have this wooden cutting board which has some really nice green on it, and I'm gonna put that down and see how that looks. Causey's feel very natural organic to me. Um, and I think that maybe you know, you got to remember with food photography. Um, a lot of times you're dealing with food that doesn't have a lot of color. Yeah, and you have to sort of kind of find different ways to find. Ah, nice presentation. So this looks nice to me, but it needs a little bit of fill in the front, so I'm gonna just cheat a little bit and put my camera like this right over the lip of the of the card. So I'm gonna kind of use the card as a as the base. But it's also as my as my, uh so you could see the difference. I'll go from one to the other. So this is the one I just shot. What? That's the one I just shot. That's the one before. So you see the difference in the light as a flick back and forth. Look at the front of the scone. I know it's really hard to do this on this little tiny screen, but and see if I can get it. Does this you didn't way? There we go there. Yeah, that's Oh, yeah. Wow. See? Dark white? Yeah, like so. That's the difference. But putting that card like that and that really big difference you would never like intuitively expect that it makes that significant of a difference. That's right. And it does. And then you know, a lot of times like when you do that and you have the camera like peeking over the top of the card. There's other times when I've actually cut a hole in the card and the lens of the camera right there so that I can actually mount the camera with the film card right on the front of the camera, and it will push light back onto Thea. It's on to the subject, So that's the nice way to do this. And I have one other little thing I want to try here because I really don't love the I mean, you don't love the overhead of this because it doesn't really have a whole lot of it really doesn't have a whole lot of color. And yeah, enough variation for me to really love what that looks like. So I'm gonna get some have some jam or something in the fridge so that I could put on top and make a little make a little presentation so hanging there with me. Sandy is telling us. Do not forget about our gluten free scones in the oven. I hope they're not getting burnt. No, they're ready. Okay. Did I just hear a timer? Was that perfect timing? No, it was, Ah, when I opened my open. It may sound These look nice. He's a little different. Bring a few of those over. Let them cool for a minute. How much time we have, Kate? Ah, we have about eight minutes. Okay. Cool way. Have time. So I'm gonna make one of these into a little, uh, Sandy, Can we eat them with jam? We're getting an expert advice. I love it. So I'm going to cut this carefully. These cut. Just like my grandmother's, too. They have this really delicate kind of feel to them. They're just on the verge of crumbly. You could see that. What kind of jam? Or you were just a little bit of strawberry. I don't have a whole lot, actually. At the bottom of my jam jar. More in the based. Had I known I was gonna do jam today brought more jam, but no did not. Okay, so I'm going to do Just 1/2 its, um, jam. And I'm gonna leave the knife there, so All right, a prop. And let's say I think I'm gonna need my little card trick, and I'm gonna get in here. I got that light bouncing off the jam. That's kind of nice. Take a little bit of an angle. That would be clear, You say? Oh, yeah. All right. We're getting a This looks great. Show you in a sec. I want to keep you waiting too long, but start of Oh, yeah. Hopes cute. There we go. Oh, yeah, That looks so good. And the jam makes such a big difference in just like adding some nuance to the photo. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's I mean, I went a little heavy on the jam, but oh, well, Sandy says fruit scones are eaten with jam and cream. Ideally, Yeah, okay. Or butter? Yeah. It's nice, right? Very nice. Um, when a go for the top down shot here for sick, she says in the U. K. There's a constant debate about what goes on. First, though, the jam or the cream. Do you have a take on that? I mean, I've always put the butter or the fat first and then put the jam on the top. So that's always that sort of been the way I've done it. But, um Oh, that looks so good. So there we are. Yeah. So I'm gonna take you over there to look at the other scones, Okay? Because I think we're probably a little short on time, but you could see that as a little crackling. Oh, yeah, Those cracked in a different way than the normal flower. That's interesting. And these air, these would, I think, for my taste in terms of photography, these air actually more photogenic. They're more interesting to look at. Yeah, aren't they? So, yeah, um, I don't know about texture. We could give that a little bit of a try here, Um, get you set up anymore. Test one out. And these are the gluten free one. So I don't have to be as careful around these. They're very crumbly. Um, well, they're a little dryer. Okay, So this is your first time making them gluten free, right? Yeah. OK, but I don't know. I mean, taste wise, they have the right flavor. Yeah, and I think that you don't really eat them like that, right? You don't eat them, drive. You eat them with something else. That cream or butter? Yeah, or you're drinking with your coffee. And, like, you know, you have something that's absorbing the drying scones in general, you know, typically are on the dryer side because you're you're using them up with something, like jam or dipping. That something? Yes. So I'm actually liking what we got in there. I think that they taste great and texture is nice. A little crumbly. It's probably gonna be hard to spread butter on them until they get a little stale. But because right now, right out of the oven there, they probably wouldn't handle the butter too well. But But I think their success. I mean, they look great, they taste nice, and they are pretty representative of what's phone should be. So I'm happy with that. I also like that we are had an opportunity sort of troubleshoot. Ah, dark environment today. Yeah, dark out there. I mean, it is we saw how dark it got in the kitchen, but also, I mean, it's pretty dark outside, so we have pushed that camera a little harder than normal, but it and lit it. And we had that little reflector trick. And I think it worked out well. Yeah, I think so. Uh, I'll all remind everyone before we sign off today. Uh, that again. This is the work from Home Cafe. We have, actually, uh, we have a landing page for all of our episodes now, and I'll drop it in the comments. So if you want to go back, we have had This is episode eight or nine. No, this is episode nine. Uh, since quarantine, you launched April 1st, and Andrew and I are coming to you every Monday at 12 o'clock with new recipes. So if you're looking for something new to switch up at home this week, we have a whole, uh, a whole class page with all of our episodes that I will be dropping right here for you guys to catch up with what we've been making. So here's one thing I'll tell you about these there. They feel traditional, teeny, but from my money, I would put a little extra sugar in them. Oh, okay. You know what? I think it wouldn't hurt the recipe. in the slightest. Um, and I think that if you put instead of, um, we had what did we have? Six tablespoons of sugar. Um, I would go with eight and just pump it up just a little, because I think that will give it a little extra sweetness. Or if you wanted to, which is not what my grandmother used to do is Sprinkle some sugar on top before you get them in the oven. I've seen scones baked that way as well. Yeah, these haven't been done that way. And the other thing you could do if you want to get more color on them is put a little bit of cream wash on top of them before you put them in the oven, and they'll get a nice brown color. So I think I mean, modifying You can modify the recipe. I will not be offended. Grandma's long gone so she won't yell at me. But it's I think we did a good job today. Yeah, I think if you wanted to play around with them, if you like a less sweet make from the way I did him. And if you like, more sweet than, um may come with a little, a little bit extra sugar, and I think they'd be great. All right. Sounds good. I'm just dropping everybody our work from home cafe so they can catch up with all of our previous episodes and leave us some comments. Let us know what else you want to see us cooking in the coming weeks. We were talking are other producers about maybe doing a smoke a smoked meat session. So I try to convince him to join us and teach us how to make some smoke beat meets. But we also want to know what you guys want to Sikhs make. Um, Andrew and I are both trying to find an eclectic, uh, you know, roop of recipes to teach you. So if you have a recipe you want to share with us and we can kind of navigate it on our own for the first time, we would love to do that. And, um, thanks for joining us today. And like I said, I'm I'm dropping a link to all of our previous episodes. And if you haven't going to watch Andrews Cavani's, uh, classes this week, we are hurt classes in general Excuse me. Andrew has a ton of amazing food photography classes on Creativelive. I dropped a link to his first food photography class, but he has to News photography costs out. One is social media for food photography and mobile food photography. So you can improve your photos on your phone, So I highly recommend going to check those outs. Cool. Thank you so much. Andrew is another fun episode and I will see you next week. See you next weekend. Thanks, everyone. This was great. So I
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Michael A. Gruich Jr.
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